Vasarely Gets Armenia Retrospective

Yerevan, Armenia.- The Cafesjian Centre for the Arts is proud to present "Victor Vasarely: Optical perspectives" on view at the museum from September 10th. ARTKABINETT collector members have uploaded many of his works in their online collection displays on this website. A selection of 44 prints from the Gerard L. Cafesjian Collection will represent various periods of Vasarely's legacy. Vasarely was recognized the founding father of op-art. Defining the principle of unity of color and form, Vasarely creates the plastic alphabet, the units of which, through reconfigurations and permutations generate endless creative combinations. By developing the plastic alphabet into the universal language of art Victor Vasarely aspires to make art accessible to all, to contribute to the harmonious development of art and society. Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian French artist whose work is generally seen aligned with Op-art. His work entitled 'Zebra', created in the 1930s, is considered by some to be one of the earliest examples of Op-art. Vasarely was born in Pécs and grew up in Pieš'any and Budapest where in 1925 he took up medical studies at Budapest University. In 1927 he abandoned medicine to learn traditional academic painting at the private Podolini-Volkmann Academy. In 1928/1929, he enrolled at Sándor Bortnyik's workshop, then widely recognized as the center of Bauhaus studies in Budapest. Victor Vasarely became a graphics designer and a poster artist during the 1930s who combined patterns and organic images with each other. Vasarely left Hungary and settled in Paris in 1930 working as a graphic artist and as a creative consultant at the advertising agencies Havas, Draeger and Devambez (1930–1935). His interactions with other artists during this time were limited. After the Second World War, he opened an atelier in Arcueil, a suburb some 10 kilometers from the center of Paris (in the Val-de-Marne département of the Île-de-France). In 1961 he finally settled in Annet-sur-Marne (in the Seine-et-Marne département). Vasarely eventually went on to produce art and sculpture mainly focused around the area of optical illusion. Over the next three decades, Vasarely developed his style of geometric abstract art, working in various materials but using a minimal number of forms and colours. During this period, Vasarely experimented with cubistic, futuristic, expressionistic, symbolistic and surrealistic paintings without developing a unique style. Afterwards, he said he was on the wrong track. He exhibited his works in the gallery of Denise René (1946) and the gallery René Breteau (1947). Finally, Vasarely found his own style. The overlapping development are named after their geographical heritage.